Medved was born in 1948 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a family of Russian origin, but moved to San Diego, California while still a child when his father got a job as a scientist for the defense contractor, Convair. Medved attended Yale as an undergraduate, graduating with honors, and then went on to Yale Law School. During his undergraduate years, he held a job at a Jewish middle-school in order to maintain exemption from the Vietnam draft. After his first year at Yale Law, he took time off to serve as a campaign consultant on Democratic senatorial races, and never returned to finish his degree. Some of Medved's classmates at Yale included Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, George W. Bush, Howard Dean and John Kerry. At the time Medved was a Democrat and opposed to the Vietnam War. Medved worked for Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign, until Kennedy's assassination, of which Medved himself was a witness. Medved later worked briefly for Congressman Ron Dellums of Berkeley, California—and credits that experience with pushing him permanently away from the Democratic Party [citation needed]. Michael Medved's first experience with conservative politics was his decision to work for the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. He is currently a vocal supporter of the Republican Party and of conservative principles in general.

Medved reviewed movies for CNN, and later for the New York Post. He also served for twelve years as co-host of Sneak Previews, a nationally televised weekly movie review show on PBS public television. Medved is currently on the board of contributors to USA Today and occasionally writes op-ed pieces for the Wall Street Journal and the King County Journal.

Medved gained attention for the books he co-authored deriding Hollywood mainstream and B Movie productions, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time and The Golden Turkey Awards. Following those publications, Medved became a popular chat show guest on British television and presented a series for Channel 4 The Worst of Hollywood. Medved is partly to credit for the film Plan 9 from Outer Space being described as the worst film ever though unintentionally this has had the effect of renewing interest in the film and earned its director a cult following.

Medved is notable as the best-known socially conservative film critic. He has been an outspoken critic of how religion is portrayed by mainstream Hollywood. He was one of the Jewish voices in America that praised Mel Gibson's controversial movie, The Passion of the Christ (2004). Medved was also a historical consultant on the movie Luther (2004), about the life of Martin Luther. As an observant Jew, Medved has said he has more in common with observant Christians than he does with some secular Jews in Hollywood whom he charged with abandoning their faith and the underlying moral principles of Judaism.

Other critics not only dislike his criticism, they are openly contemptuous of it, viewing him as a shallow philistine. David Denby described "Hollywood vs. America" in The New Republic as "...the stupidest book about popular culture that I have read to the end". Stuart Klawans has criticized him for his carelessness errors, including a particularly egregious howler about The Naked Lunch. Others have questioned whether the 50 worst reviews should really include Ivan the Terrible, Last Year in Marienbad and Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. James Wolcott has lashed out at him: "Michael Medved is an idiot. He has a wet sock for a brain. A thumbless grasp of the issues and a propensity to lachrymose wimpering when he doesn't get his way".

Medved has criticized what he perceives as Hollywood's obsession with dark and pessimistic subject matter in the name of art over uplifting and optimistic works that he claims the vast majority of the public actually want. He claims that this is demonstrated by box office success of pro–Judeo-Christian films (such as The Ten Commandments and Chariots of Fire), and films that promote traditional values such as The Incredibles. Medved also praised March of the Penguins for what he claimed was a pro-family message (the film's director has denied any such message)

Medved was criticized for giving away the ending of Million Dollar Baby. Medved countered that the movie promotions were very misleading to the dark subject matter of that film. He wrote that, rather than a Rocky-esqe film about boxing, it was essentially a film arguing in favor for the right to die [4]. Medved asserted that he did not disclose the entire plot, just enough information that his listeners could make an informed choice about that movie.

Medved has suggested this focus on dark and depressing subject matter is contributing to lower box office turnouts, and particularly the failure of films such as King David. At the same time, Medved has also noted that just being a "family" or "values" oriented movie will not necessarily mean it is any good. He has also praised movies for their artistic value even though he disagrees with the underlying political message (i.e., The Motorcycle Diaries about the early life of Che Guevara). Additionally, he has criticized Sean Penn and Tim Robbins' politics, while praising their works as actors and directors.

He has also long been an especially outspoken critic of what he characterizes as inappropriate entertainment for or about children, including "The Simpsons", "Beavis and Butt-head" and "South Park". He has criticized Disney movies such as Pocahontas for "dark and politically correct preaching about persecution of Native Americans", and Mulan as well as Bugs Bunny for promoting "the liberating impact of cross-dressing"

Medved does a daily three-hour talk radio program based out of Seattle, Washington. The show reaches more than 2 million listeners in 140 markets, coast to coast. Medved has been listed by Talkers Magazine as one of their "Heavy Hundred" most important American talk show hosts [7]. Medved started his radio show in 1996 after a series of guest hostings on Rush Limbaugh's radio show. Medved credits Limbaugh for giving him his start in talk radio.

Medved describes himself as a "cultural crusader on politics and pop culture" and the show focuses on that intersection between current events, politics, and the entertainment industry. Medved's radio show also deals with issues involving the film industry and recent movies he has reviewed. Medved's radio show often focuses on listeners calling in and debating issues with its host, welcoming in particular callers who strongly disagree with the host. The show welcomes dissenting voices as guests to debate with Medved and he has had on Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, John Shelby Spong, George Galloway, and Al Franken, among many others. Medved also has guests who he agrees with on certain subjects (i.e., Robert Spencer, Christopher Hitchens, etc.) and conservative voices from politics and pop culture. Medved has supported other conservatives when they have been criticized such as Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

Medved is a self-described conservative on most issues, although he has some environmental sympathies. On environmental issues, he prefers to call himself a conservationist in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt. Medved is a very vocal critic of roadside debris and trash, and has often been seen cleaning up the debris left near his home in Mercer Island, WA.

Another common theme of Medved's political and cultural commentary is the labeling of certain political forces, political candidates, and movies with facetious nicknames. Examples of these nicknames include.